Don't Let Candida Win

In my last post I quickly mentioned candida and oral thrush. If you are like me you have never heard of it before or have a clue what it is. First, let me remind you I am not a doctor or any type of medical professional. I am just a girl who went through it and knows how very unpleasant it can be.

Here we go...

I love this description by the MindBodyGreen website (http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-8376/10-signs-you-have-candida-overgrowth-what-to-do-about-it.html): Candida is a fungus, which is a form of yeast, and a very small amount of it lives in your mouth and intestines. Its main job? Helping out with digestion and nutrient absorption. 

Great Website for Health Information

The real problem develops when there is an overproduction of candida. Candida can break down the wall of the intestine and penetrate the bloodstream — releasing toxic by-products into your body and causing leaky gut. This can lead to many different health problems, from digestive issues to depression.

You get the idea, this is no joke and no fun!

Candida overgrowth can present itself in many different forms..for me it chose to present itself in my mouth. The infection had taken over. Ew. My tongue developed this horrible white coating, I developed canker sores, and it was so swollen and painful. My primary care doctor told me I had strep and gave me the normal prescriptions for treating strep, in addition I was given an oral lidocaine swish to help with the pain.  By the next day I was still in so much pain, even worse, and I could barely talk. I definitely couldn't eat and even drinking was painful. My mom did some googling and discovered a diagnosis called oral thrush. I found a local ENT (ear, nose, throat) Dr. who took my insurance and was able to get in that day. He put a camera down my nose, checked my mouth, and finally I had a proper diagnosis. He confirmed I did indeed have a really bad case of oral thrush. He put me on a different swish and stopped the other medicines which were actually causing the thrush to get worse! Once home I started looking into more options to help the healing process along. A friend of mine suggested I check out a site, earthclinic.com.  What an awesome site. It gave me lots of natural suggestions to help with the healing process; such as baking soda peroxide switches, turmeric for the swelling, apple cider vinegar to help with healing my digestive tract. These are just a few that I tried.

Lots of natural healing ideas for all sorts of problems

So now what...first thing, you have to change your diet. There are lots of different books and diets out there find one that works for you. Low sugar is most important! Candida feeds off sugar, don't feed the bad stuff. Small meals help your poor digestive tract that is already working overtime. I also found a Holistic Treatment Practice that had history in dealing with oral thrush and candida. They put together a very specific supplement regiment for me to take. I won't share what it is because everyone's body and diagnosis is different and I don't want you to try something without the proper understanding of the product. I will tell you that a probiotic and prebiotic are very important!!  Also switch up your foods and the pre and pro biotics every couple of weeks. Candida is sneaky and they have a way of adapting to their surroundings!  So what once helped, no longer will. 

I stayed home a lot that summer. People would ask me what happened and I felt so embarrassed to tell them. I didn't want to go out and see people. My tongue was in pain and I could barely speak and yeah I felt yucky. I mean come on who wants to talk about everything I just told you. While everyone was enjoying their summer, I turned to online blogs and social media to do research and also not feel so alone. That is why I have decided to share my story today. You are not alone ever. There is probably someone out there going through something similar. Feeling like I had support, even just in my online friends world helped me cope. 

Well this quote fits perfectly!!

Present day... I still have my struggles, but slowly I am healing up. My stomach is still sensitive to certain foods and drinks. I still have to eat small meals or it takes down my digestive system. Sugar is my ultimate kryptonite! I keep it as low and as natural as possible. I buy mostly organic foods, because who wants to fill their body with bad stuff now that you are cleaning it up. 

Keep away!!
Sugar for me is from fruits and occasionally honey or agave to bake 

I learned a lot about myself going through this, mostly I learned I am actually pretty bada**.  It was not fun, but I fought back and still fight back every day and I want you to fight back too. Don't get me wrong I had and still have plenty of boohoo me days, but I try to not let them bring me down too long. Sometimes I wish I could eat regular like everyone else, but wishing and feeling bad doesn't change the fact that I can't. 

I love this quote,
 because it is the truth!

Most important please BE PATIENT with yourself!!  Depending on how severe the case it could take a very long time to heal. Look at me going on 6 almost 7 months and I am still healing!!! Don't let the candida bring you down, you need to beat it down!!

Thank you for taking the time to read this post about something that is very personal to me and had such a huge impact on my life.

Food Food...Everywhere!

Coming up is my big work convention. We spend so much time preparing and getting ready. Making sure everything runs smoothly, how the Events Director pulls everything together is really amazing. It's a really wonderful event to be part of, but also really exhausting!!

Silly girls...it's not time to pack yet!

We get up early and go to bed late. We, the staff, are pretty much all over the place making sure things run smoothly and every one of our guests are happy. In addition, this year I am really excited, because I was asked to take photos for my company. The convention not only has really wonderful education sessions, speakers, and classed, but it also has amazing delicious food! We start with a big lunch that includes sandwiches, soups, and lots of pastries. That's nothing compared to the dessert reception where you will find a chocolate fountain, cupcakes, pastries, cookies, you name it!! The following night our big dinner banquet includes Caesar salad, pasta dish, entree, and of course dessert. I'm stuffed thinking about it. 

Anyone want dessert? 

With the convention dates creeping closer I was really starting to worry. What would I eat? Last year was when I started noticing I was getting sick eating high carb and sugary meals/dessert. So it's not even that I don't WANT to eat all of that, but I really CAN'T! I know if I eat any of that I will be so sick and being sick is not fun any time, but especially at a huge work event...yikes! Turns out my amazing coworker had my back. She ordered me a Cobb salad for my lunch full of everything that I can eat and enjoy. For dinner I will have a house salad with oil and vinegar, steak and shrimp, and by then I will be so stuffed I won't need dessert. I am also planning on stashing some snacks in my purse just in case. Thanks to my coworkers taking care of me I can spend more time focused on work and enjoying the convention and less time on what my next meal might me.

Saw this on Pinterest and had to agree
Being healthy is hard work and more than just weight loss

Struggles and Support

I don't know about everyone but I do know when it comes to me and weight loss there are times I want to take the scale and throw it across the bathroom. Times when I just don't understand how it could possibly go up and why do my pants feel snug!?! I didn't eat any oreos my nieces tried to give me. I measured and weighed all my food. I worked out every day. Sure I know my body is complicated and struggles to lose weight but this is just not fair. Well this is the point I reached the other day. I was on a solid roll for a while there. Scale and inches moving in the right direction and then it just stopped and even started going back up. Can you say frustrating! Part of me wanted to say I just give up and eat anything and everything. Then I thought about my health and how that would suffer, I thought about how horrible I would feel, and I thought about the example I would be setting for my nieces. I raised my white flag and admitted I needed backup.  It was time to call in for backup...my mom!

Yeah this is pretty much how I felt the other morning

My mom is amazing and thankfully patient and also my best friend. I can tell her anything. My mom also knows me better than anyone else and knows my struggles. She has been helping me, supporting me, and guiding me since the day I asked for help. I admit this time I wanted to try and do it alone...look what I can do. Then I realized if you have someone in your corner willing to help and support you and figure it out, you are lucky, and I have that with her.

My mom and I can have fun on the beach or even food shopping

I told my mom what was going on,  she asked me about what I was eating and came up with some ideas to possibly help. Then she even agreed to take a ride with me to Shoprite, on a Sunday! For those of you who don't know Shoprite on a Sunday, it's like any food store during a weather emergency! Madness!! But off we went for our adventure. It was like no one else existed in the store as we read labels and talked. I realized I had been slacking on protein and healthy fats while concentrating too much on fruits and other sugary high carb foods. My body hates sugar!!! I have no medical diagnosis for this, but I know. Just like anyone else reading this who knows their body. People might think you are nuts, but you just know your body. My mom showed me different types of meats and gave me ways to cook them. Without her support I would have probably been miserable today. Trying to figure out what to do and where to start to make it better. Instead after a day and a half of my changed eating I had energy. I wasn't relying on coffee, I wasn't starving all day, I wasn't grumpy, and I even had leftover energy to go swimming with my nieces. I'm hoping this is just the start to more days like these and I will keep you updated and even give some easy recipes (I don't do complicated ones yet).

Having fun and getting exercise while playing in the pool

Sometimes all it takes is someone in your corner who can see past the emotions of what you are going through.Someone to help you take a step back and figure out where you went off the path. Don't be afraid to ask for help or like me trying to prove you don't need help. I hope everyone has at least one person like that in their life and if not I am here for you. Feel free to comment on my blogs. I would love to hear your story and please don't give up no matter how challenging.